CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
2 December 2008
Product News
Apriso Expands Enterprise Quality Solution With FlexNet Quality Planning
Apriso®, a provider of adaptive software solutions for global Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), announced expanded quality planning capabilities within the latest version of FlexNet® Quality 3.0. FlexNet Quality functions as a "hub" for Enterprise Quality Management across manufacturing operations. This product expansion allows quality characteristics to be collected according to an Inspection Plan residing within FlexNet, instead of relying on external systems such as ERP, which may lead to unnecessary delays or disruption of material flows, impacting Lean and other continuous improvement initiatives.
This highly integrated solution creates and expands sampling procedures, which can then be scheduled to integrate inspection priorities across manufacturing, warehouse and supply chain operations. FlexNet customers can now perform sampling with far greater flexibility based on ISO 2859 rules, which includes determining sample size according to lot size or severity level. Results are available in real-time, to support immediate corrective actions as well as to provide valuable information to corporate planning and reporting activities within enterprise applications, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).
Apriso's FlexNet delivers all the functionality of a Quality Management System (QMS), leveraging a platform-based unified data model to join multiple quality, traceability and containment management capabilities, each working cohesively across an enterprise manufacturer's operations. With FlexNet, quality is managed across operational "silos," offering a solution to accelerate product and process quality assurance across all operations, to approach a zero defects "nirvana."
"Quality sampling performed after production may improve customer satisfaction, but does little to reduce the total cost of quality. Manufacturers applying Six Sigma and Lean are eager to remove waste completely from their value streams, which includes avoiding the production of defective materials in the first place," states John Fishell, director of product management at Apriso. "Manufacturers can leverage FlexNet Quality Planning to perform inspections within production, warehouse and supply chain processes before final assembly. Based on the inspection results, corrective actions can then be performed in a timely manner, whether that involves containment, process adjustment or a complete shutdown of production. The direct result is a lower total cost of quality, and an overall reduction of 'muda' or waste."
Recognizing that 'one size' seldom fits all, Apriso has designed its latest Quality application to work in a modular fashion. By including as much or as little quality management functionality as needed, ERP users need not embark on a "rip and replace" strategy. Instead, manufacturers can complement and leverage existing IT, QMS or ERP investments, adding FlexNet Quality where appropriate, addressing unmet Quality assurance needs without "over-purchasing" software with redundancy in functionality.
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